This weekend started with a mexicana dinner party that I held for a few of my friends in my piso. I fried up some beans and chicken, bell peppers, rice and some other goodies. We ate up and listened to mariachi music until about three! It was a great time. Matteo and I also worked in some jamming which has become a welcomed motif in my piso around Friday night.
Then in the morning, Maria and I went hiking in Monachil; one of my favorite nearby mountain towns. Above the town there is a canyon that is truly beautiful. It’s about a mile long and made up of tall walls and pillars. The trail is well maintained with hanging Indiana-Jones-style bridges and a cement wall you walk and crawl along the top of as it bows and bends up, over and around the beautiful rocks, like a cat scurrying across rooftops of the most beautiful and natural city. At one point you pass through a tunnel! Another part is like a long, turning hallway with almost perfectly straight walls on both sides. In this spot there were many rock climbers and as Maria said, “We are walking through the hallway of a gallery and they are the paintings dangling from the walls like living portraits.”
Further up, the canyon opened to rocky alpine meadows. There was an abandoned farmhouse along the trail. Outside the house was a rusty old water duct wheel with handles like the helm of a whaling ship. I couldn’t help thinking of the 90’s computer game, “Myst.” Maybe if I turned the wheel the direction of the stream would change, driving a watermill that would mechanically lift an elevator to an unknown chamber of a tower holding the secret historical manuscripts of the mysterious deserted island city!
The magic that led to my overactive imagination was the quietness. The slight wind through the valley silenced all other sounds and we were alone. Suddenly the maze of our hike through the canyon, meadows, farm, was full of puzzles and hidden meanings. Every stone, every bridge, every winding branch had it’s coveted significance that was just out of reach. like Kundera says in the ULB, "On the surface, an intelligible lie; underneath, the unintelligible truth showing through." It was just like playing Myst; the puzzles were eminent and important but a little too hard to crack as a ten-year-old. Their subtle clues added to my curiosity and assurance that there is always more than meets the eye - We think ourselves capable of defining truths!? - ha!
We had a picnic and good conversation in a meadow below a towering cliff, overlooking the valley below. My soul was resonating in the peaceful scene like a choir in a dark old stone Spanish church. When we made it out of the canyon and back to the bar by the bus station, I was physically tired from the hike and emotionally silenced by the beauty that surrounded me.
After the hike I went for tapas with Maria and Karine (the French Canadian) at La Toturga. The bar is run by a charming old butch Española who does indeed resemble a “tortuga.” There I randomly bumped into one of my best friends in Granada, Markus. I left the Tortuga with him and some of his Viennese friends. We wandered through the streets speaking Spanish, English and German and eventually ended up at a tapas bar in my neighborhood called “La Candela.” There Markus told me his dream:
He was walking through a canyon (not unlike the one in Monachil) with his brother when they came to a bridge. Seeing the bridge, his brother turned to Markus and said, very seriously, “Tonight you will learn how to fly to the moon.”
Markus thought, “¡Joder! What are these poetic words coming from my brother’s mouth?” then Markus turned around and his brother had vanished.
He thought about heading back but decided he must follow the trail. Cautiously crossing the bridge day changed quickly but evenly into night and by the time he made it to the other side it was completely dark. He was now out of the canyon and in a thick pinewood forest. Out of the darkness he saw two sets of bright white eyes. The light from the eyes at first blinded him, even from a great distance. Soon his eyes adjusted and he saw that the eyes belonged two wolves! He was frightened but forced himself to be calm and admit to the fate of his dream. One of the wolves spoke to him, “Tonight you will learn how to fly to the moon.”
Then the wolves led him above the trees to the mountaintop. There the full moon shone bright and the wolves began to howl. Markus began to sing in his flamenco voice. Soon his voice tuned itself to the wolves’ howl and they were all howling together. Markus felt his body lift and soar towards the moon higher and higher as he continued his howl!
My spirit needed this weekend. I feel like it was given to me as a gift at exactly the right time. My grandma died last week and this Saturday, the day of the hike and howls, was also the day of her funeral. My parents and my sister were there, in Pennsylvania. I wanted to come but could not. This temporary separation from my family in a hard time and the permanent separation from grandma in death, made me feel very sad and alone here in Spain. I cut all my hair off, I stayed in my room and read, I got sick and worn out. I tried to lock myself away from the gravity of the the world. Any feelings of homesickness I had were multiplied fifty times and I felt so isolated. Then, as I hosted my friends in my piso, wove through the secret meanings hidden in the canyon and thought about the eerie pertinence of Markus’ dream, I felt connected to something. Even if it was less than "intelligible." Be it good food and music, nature, friends and family, or the cosmic turns in the hallway through the most beautiful gallery of destiny, I felt peace. I felt my soul lifting like Markus after he had succumb to the scary wolves in the dark forest and decided he would let himself fly to the moon.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Shuffle continued: Essay for Musical Communication and Critique Class
I) Notas de La Enciclopedia de New Grove
1) Características de la Autenticidad en la música
a) El uso de instrumentos de la época,
b) Fidelidad a los deseos del componente original
c) Una re-creación del contexto del ejecución original
d) “Attempt to re-create the musical experience of the original audience”(241)
e) El termino, “Historically aware/informed performances” ahora esta mas usado
porque la palabra “autentico” implica verdad objetivo que seria verdad y correcto en cualquier lugar o tiempo. Sin embargo, en los tres décadas pasadas, la idea de un concierto ‘autentico’ ya ha cambiado mucho.
2) Critica negativa
a) Ejecuciones informados “Attempt to re-create the musical experience of the
orignal audience” eso es muy difícil, naive y elite.
b) Elitismo cultural; ¿Otros ejecuciones no son auténticos? ¿Por que?
(¿ejemplo? Bob Dylan quien tome una tipa de música antigua y lo cambio poniéndolo vanguardia y entonces, elite.)
c) Ninguno concierto puede ser exactamente “autentico.”
d) Muchos aspectos de ejecución han cambiado (la idea de una ejecución
autentica es uno!)
e)Es ingenio pensar que los oyentes pueden tener la misma experiencia como
tuvieron en el pasado.
f) Las barreras culturales entre el pasado y ahora son tan grande como cualquier barrera producido por distancia física. Así que un concierto “autentico” pueda perder su componente mas importante; la audiencia.
3) El Postmodernismo sus síntomas
a)El deseo o “craving” por la autenticidad es algo postmoderno. Es una reacción a
la globalización que, con el capitalismo y Mas-media nos ha desconectado de nuestra historia cultural.
b)The influx of media and capitalism weakens our ‘historicity’ “this means that
we are no longer aware of our place within human history and are not so able to appreciate ourselves as historically conditioned beings.”(p.242) nos sentimos perdidos y solos en nuestro tiempo.
c) Por eso, muchos humanos en el mundo postmoderno buscan ordenen
definición y propósito. Fundamentalistas religiosos son un ejemplo; por usando leyes viejos buscan la un-ambigüedad. Quizás la diferencia entre la vida hoy y la vida de antigüedad queda en el sigue de estas tradiciones. La autenticidad en música intenta de revivir una época de música cuando humanos se sentían en su lugar.
TYRRELL, John (ed.). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians 2nd Edition. Volume 2 of 21. London: Macmillan Publishers Limited, 2001.
It is a very scary thing to live in the postmodern world. We are so isolated from our past and feel lost. Postmodern sentiments in art (like “Authentic” concerts) became popular in the first half of the 20th century with the aftermath of massive wars and the ever-increasing presence of technology and mass communication. Population growth, technology and therein too, art, have expanded exponentially and violently. This leaves us with a feeling of being cut off from the gradual and directional continuance of culture that, until recently, was normal. We are now, more than ever, confused and insecure with our roll in history and the meaning of existance.
One natural reaction to this would be to dive back into our past and try to make it a part of our lives once again. This is a noble idea; our identity is utterly important. But perhaps it is too late. Perhaps we have changed so much in the past 50-90 years that to try to connect ourselves to anything before would be false and a lie.
This is often the case with authentic recreations in music. So much about the musicians, composers and especially the listeners has changed that the music of antiquity (beyond the academic sense) is inapplicable. The best approach to take is to acknowledge that things have changed and try to redefine ourselves based on the present. Communicate with audiences and see what they like. We may be in a completely new era but we are not crippled by anything else but our nostalgia. We need to look forward and see what good we can bring to art. Dwelling on the past will not do anything for us because it is now, in the postmodern era, too far removed.
Recreations of concerts can be of academic value but beyond that I would agree with most of the criticism listed above. For the most part they are done out of nostalgic fantasy for a time that has passed and will never return. Furthermore, there is almost no way to recreate the thing as a whole and so you kind of have to lie to yourself to make it work. And if it is taken out of cultural and historical context, the audience cannot relate to the concert and they become even more lost.
However, in the historically informed film, “Eroica” (2003, Simon Cellan Jones) we saw an interesting example of a recreated concert, where the audience was also recreated. Infused with political and musical commentary, costumes, beer and food of the time, we were able to see the novelty and explosiveness of this symphony in context; a characteristic that many recreations lack. The recreated audience was able to react to the symphony and give us this contextualization.
This 1804 concert by Beethoven was submersed in political and musical controversy; Napoleon’s political advances over Europe and the individualistic evolution of composers to the status of artist. Without people there to discus and contextualize these controversies, the significance of the concert would be lost to almost all except the most historically wise of viewers. In this sense, the recreated concert and it’s audience eliminated the elitism often found in other authentic recreations. Anyone who likes music, academically trained to appreciate it or not, could enjoy this film and realize the what led Haydn to say at the end of the film, “From this day, everything is different.”
Beethoven’s struggle to expose himself as an individual and an artist is a theme that still applies today. Young artist still face the stubborn opinions of the older generations who do not appreciate their work. Also, thanks to romanticism, which Beethoven was at the cusp of, the artist has become a small god in our society. With that final line the film was made applicable to current audiences, and it will continue to apply to them in the future. This film achieved something that very few historical recreations ever do; applicability.
1) Características de la Autenticidad en la música
a) El uso de instrumentos de la época,
b) Fidelidad a los deseos del componente original
c) Una re-creación del contexto del ejecución original
d) “Attempt to re-create the musical experience of the original audience”(241)
e) El termino, “Historically aware/informed performances” ahora esta mas usado
porque la palabra “autentico” implica verdad objetivo que seria verdad y correcto en cualquier lugar o tiempo. Sin embargo, en los tres décadas pasadas, la idea de un concierto ‘autentico’ ya ha cambiado mucho.
2) Critica negativa
a) Ejecuciones informados “Attempt to re-create the musical experience of the
orignal audience” eso es muy difícil, naive y elite.
b) Elitismo cultural; ¿Otros ejecuciones no son auténticos? ¿Por que?
(¿ejemplo? Bob Dylan quien tome una tipa de música antigua y lo cambio poniéndolo vanguardia y entonces, elite.)
c) Ninguno concierto puede ser exactamente “autentico.”
d) Muchos aspectos de ejecución han cambiado (la idea de una ejecución
autentica es uno!)
e)Es ingenio pensar que los oyentes pueden tener la misma experiencia como
tuvieron en el pasado.
f) Las barreras culturales entre el pasado y ahora son tan grande como cualquier barrera producido por distancia física. Así que un concierto “autentico” pueda perder su componente mas importante; la audiencia.
3) El Postmodernismo sus síntomas
a)El deseo o “craving” por la autenticidad es algo postmoderno. Es una reacción a
la globalización que, con el capitalismo y Mas-media nos ha desconectado de nuestra historia cultural.
b)The influx of media and capitalism weakens our ‘historicity’ “this means that
we are no longer aware of our place within human history and are not so able to appreciate ourselves as historically conditioned beings.”(p.242) nos sentimos perdidos y solos en nuestro tiempo.
c) Por eso, muchos humanos en el mundo postmoderno buscan ordenen
definición y propósito. Fundamentalistas religiosos son un ejemplo; por usando leyes viejos buscan la un-ambigüedad. Quizás la diferencia entre la vida hoy y la vida de antigüedad queda en el sigue de estas tradiciones. La autenticidad en música intenta de revivir una época de música cuando humanos se sentían en su lugar.
TYRRELL, John (ed.). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians 2nd Edition. Volume 2 of 21. London: Macmillan Publishers Limited, 2001.
It is a very scary thing to live in the postmodern world. We are so isolated from our past and feel lost. Postmodern sentiments in art (like “Authentic” concerts) became popular in the first half of the 20th century with the aftermath of massive wars and the ever-increasing presence of technology and mass communication. Population growth, technology and therein too, art, have expanded exponentially and violently. This leaves us with a feeling of being cut off from the gradual and directional continuance of culture that, until recently, was normal. We are now, more than ever, confused and insecure with our roll in history and the meaning of existance.
One natural reaction to this would be to dive back into our past and try to make it a part of our lives once again. This is a noble idea; our identity is utterly important. But perhaps it is too late. Perhaps we have changed so much in the past 50-90 years that to try to connect ourselves to anything before would be false and a lie.
This is often the case with authentic recreations in music. So much about the musicians, composers and especially the listeners has changed that the music of antiquity (beyond the academic sense) is inapplicable. The best approach to take is to acknowledge that things have changed and try to redefine ourselves based on the present. Communicate with audiences and see what they like. We may be in a completely new era but we are not crippled by anything else but our nostalgia. We need to look forward and see what good we can bring to art. Dwelling on the past will not do anything for us because it is now, in the postmodern era, too far removed.
Recreations of concerts can be of academic value but beyond that I would agree with most of the criticism listed above. For the most part they are done out of nostalgic fantasy for a time that has passed and will never return. Furthermore, there is almost no way to recreate the thing as a whole and so you kind of have to lie to yourself to make it work. And if it is taken out of cultural and historical context, the audience cannot relate to the concert and they become even more lost.
However, in the historically informed film, “Eroica” (2003, Simon Cellan Jones) we saw an interesting example of a recreated concert, where the audience was also recreated. Infused with political and musical commentary, costumes, beer and food of the time, we were able to see the novelty and explosiveness of this symphony in context; a characteristic that many recreations lack. The recreated audience was able to react to the symphony and give us this contextualization.
This 1804 concert by Beethoven was submersed in political and musical controversy; Napoleon’s political advances over Europe and the individualistic evolution of composers to the status of artist. Without people there to discus and contextualize these controversies, the significance of the concert would be lost to almost all except the most historically wise of viewers. In this sense, the recreated concert and it’s audience eliminated the elitism often found in other authentic recreations. Anyone who likes music, academically trained to appreciate it or not, could enjoy this film and realize the what led Haydn to say at the end of the film, “From this day, everything is different.”Beethoven’s struggle to expose himself as an individual and an artist is a theme that still applies today. Young artist still face the stubborn opinions of the older generations who do not appreciate their work. Also, thanks to romanticism, which Beethoven was at the cusp of, the artist has become a small god in our society. With that final line the film was made applicable to current audiences, and it will continue to apply to them in the future. This film achieved something that very few historical recreations ever do; applicability.
إفريقيا
Hello people of the English-speaking world. I, Ross Voorhees, have discovered a new continent! It’s called Africa and it is very close to Spain, about a half hour south by boat to be exact. The people there do not call it Africa though. No no, they call it “l’Afrique” or even إفريقيا !
The Africans in fact have many cities. I was only adventurous enough for two (this time around!); “Tangier” and “Marrakech.” Both lie in a country that is called “Morocco.”
I went with three other brave adventuristas; Erica, Maria and Hermina and while the journey was strange and at times difficult, dangerous and wild! I enjoyed it very much.
There were rooftop parties with ex-pat artists, Arabic discos, night trains, dirt cheap hotels and cafés, snake charmers, monkey handlers, mystical dancers, labyrinths of old streets and shops called “medinas” and surprisingly enough, really nice and cool people.
(View of the Place Djemma El Fna from the Hotel de France in Marrakech; Home to such rarities listed above.)
I made friends with one of the locals there in Marrakech, in the Café de France. His name was Lahsen and was studying English. He had a good friend studying Spanish but not English. We drank powerful ginger and mint teas and talked about our families in two or three languages. Lahsen has five siblings! I told him about Americans; how they really like family too.
(Weighing the Good and the Bad with Maria.)
I will go back to the Café de France soon, hopefully run into Lahsen again. Maybe even venture out into the untamed and uncharted desert that surrounds the city. Until then I am relaxing back in Granada and trying to figure out the best was to say “stubborn” in Spanish.
(Tangier at dusk)
(Waiting for the Marrakech Express)
(Cafe Hafa in Tangier, old Beat hang-out.)
The Africans in fact have many cities. I was only adventurous enough for two (this time around!); “Tangier” and “Marrakech.” Both lie in a country that is called “Morocco.”
I went with three other brave adventuristas; Erica, Maria and Hermina and while the journey was strange and at times difficult, dangerous and wild! I enjoyed it very much.
There were rooftop parties with ex-pat artists, Arabic discos, night trains, dirt cheap hotels and cafés, snake charmers, monkey handlers, mystical dancers, labyrinths of old streets and shops called “medinas” and surprisingly enough, really nice and cool people.
(View of the Place Djemma El Fna from the Hotel de France in Marrakech; Home to such rarities listed above.)I made friends with one of the locals there in Marrakech, in the Café de France. His name was Lahsen and was studying English. He had a good friend studying Spanish but not English. We drank powerful ginger and mint teas and talked about our families in two or three languages. Lahsen has five siblings! I told him about Americans; how they really like family too.
(Weighing the Good and the Bad with Maria.)I will go back to the Café de France soon, hopefully run into Lahsen again. Maybe even venture out into the untamed and uncharted desert that surrounds the city. Until then I am relaxing back in Granada and trying to figure out the best was to say “stubborn” in Spanish.
(Tangier at dusk)
(Waiting for the Marrakech Express)
(Cafe Hafa in Tangier, old Beat hang-out.)
Saturday, May 10, 2008
El Gran Espectaculo Internacional De Musica!
Thursday night there was a concert for us international students. It was held in a big amphitheatre on campus. A huge group of international and local kids showed up to watch. I played five songs, three with Annichka from the Czech Republic and Matteo from Italy. And two with Sara from Italy. With the first group we played Evan’s song that I posted a couple months ago. We also played one of Matteo’s songs called “Friendship is a different thing,” and a Czech jazz classic that Annichka sang and who’s name I couldn’t begin to pronounce, much less spell. With Sara, I played a 90’s pop song in English that she liked called “The Sea” and then “O’sole mio,” as a waltz which was really Italian a fun, I added a little harmony at the end, “STAN FRONT A TE!”
The concert was really a blast. There were other guitarists and singers, some dances and a clown act. It was as eclectic as we were, coming from all over the world. At the end of the show we chose to cheese it up a bit with the whole group singing "We are the world" and "Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da."
It had been so long since I had preformed, and it made me really happy. It put me in such a good mood. Afterwards all the musicians and I went out for tapas until one in the morning. I met Karine from Montreal and worked on my French a bit too. Tomorrow she and I going hiking!
Here are some Pics. (Thanks Nic!)
Actually the title of this blog is a bit redundant; it’s a given that in it’s best form music is international.
On the way home from the tapas bar Sara and I were singing “O sole mio” with authentic drunken Italian accents. We passed the translations faculty building and ran into an old Congolese sage. We all held hands for a moment and sang together. He told us that because of globalization we’re all foreigners and so therefore there are no foreigners at all.
With globalization Music is becoming more pure. It is shedding its local color. It sheds language and genre. No one asks it to express anything but itself. By becoming less defined it becomes less limited. It’s really “a different thing.” As we too shed our national identities we gain a worldliness and universality. As was posted above the stage at the concert, we are “abriendo fronteras.” Opening borders. We’re changing, expanding, learning.
The concert was really a blast. There were other guitarists and singers, some dances and a clown act. It was as eclectic as we were, coming from all over the world. At the end of the show we chose to cheese it up a bit with the whole group singing "We are the world" and "Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da."
It had been so long since I had preformed, and it made me really happy. It put me in such a good mood. Afterwards all the musicians and I went out for tapas until one in the morning. I met Karine from Montreal and worked on my French a bit too. Tomorrow she and I going hiking!
Here are some Pics. (Thanks Nic!)
Actually the title of this blog is a bit redundant; it’s a given that in it’s best form music is international.
On the way home from the tapas bar Sara and I were singing “O sole mio” with authentic drunken Italian accents. We passed the translations faculty building and ran into an old Congolese sage. We all held hands for a moment and sang together. He told us that because of globalization we’re all foreigners and so therefore there are no foreigners at all.
With globalization Music is becoming more pure. It is shedding its local color. It sheds language and genre. No one asks it to express anything but itself. By becoming less defined it becomes less limited. It’s really “a different thing.” As we too shed our national identities we gain a worldliness and universality. As was posted above the stage at the concert, we are “abriendo fronteras.” Opening borders. We’re changing, expanding, learning.
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